Matt Calkins: Russell Wilson's polarizing personality doesn't negate Seahawks achievements

Matt Calkins, The Seattle Times on Jun 2, 2026

Published in Football

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SEATTLE — He never got in trouble. There wasn’t going to be a headline accompanied by Russell Wilson’s mug shot on a random Wednesday morning.

His personal life has been scandal-free. There wasn’t going to be a Page Six picture exposing the Super Bowl champ for stepping out.

He isn’t particularly political. There may have been a stray comment or two, but there is no partisan cause or movement to which Wilson’s name is attached.

And yet, the man who would visit Seattle Children’s every Tuesday and helped fund a charter school managed to be one of the more polarizing sports figures in Emerald City history.

It’s understandable to an extent. Certain decisions he has made and personality traits he possesses have proved irksome to a decent segment of the population. But with reports surfacing Monday that Wilson is set to “pause” his playing career to join CBS Sports, there is only one way the 37-year-old should be remembered: An all-time great Seahawk worthy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

There was no citywide celebration when Seattle drafted Russell out of Wisconsin in the spring of 2012. He was a third-round pick who, despite exceptional numbers with the Badgers, didn’t fit the NFL quarterback prototype at 5 feet 11. But he shined during training camp, and when he led the Seahawks to six consecutive scores vs. the Chiefs in his first preseason start, he secured the starting job that he’d hold for the next decade.

What ensued was some of the most efficient, entertaining and electrifying football the league has seen.

His speed and proficiency in the zone-read offense helped make the Seahawks the best running team in football. His accuracy, deep ball and peerless scrambling ability made him one of the most productive quarterbacks in the league. The Seattle teams that won the Super Bowl for the 2013 season before losing the Big Game the next year were defined by their defense. But make no mistake: There wouldn’t have been a parade if Wilson — who finished fourth in Offensive Player of the Year voting in his second season — wasn’t behind center.

Yes, he threw that last-minute interception from the 1-yard line in the Super Bowl loss to the Patriots, but most of the blame for that result was assigned to the call, not the execution. And though the Pete Carroll-coached Seahawks never reached another conference championship game, you could argue that Wilson never played better.

His 2015 campaign saw him lead the NFL in passer rating at 110.1 as he threw a personal-best 34 touchdown passes. Two years later, he led the league in TD throws with 34, and the year after that, put up a rating of 110.9. Wilson’s finest individual effort might have come in 2020, when he tossed 40 touchdowns while leading the Seahawks to a 12-4 record. If he retired after his final game that season, he’d almost certainly have a gold Hall of Fame jacket by now.

But careers rarely end with a pretty bow on top. They usually conclude after most of the gift-wrap has been torn off.

After an injury-riddled 2021, Wilson forced a trade to Denver that turned Seattle against its once-beloved signal caller. Wilson endured emphatic boos in his first game back at Lumen Field, as the fans chanted “Ge-no!” to signal that they had moved on to new QB Geno Smith. Then there was the story of him doing high-knees in the aisle of the Broncos plane while his teammates slept.

Football fans across the country were put off. You could feel it. But they didn’t see him as a villain. They saw him kind of the way people viewed Tom Cruise when he was jumping on Oprah’s couch. It was just … weird.

It didn’t help that he was playing mediocre football on teams that either missed the playoffs or flamed out in the first round. He went 11-19 in his two years with the Broncos, 6-6 in his one year with the Steelers and 0-3 with the Giants last year before being relegated to the bench.

But quirks, Pollyanna news conferences and subpar play in your twilight years shouldn’t negate one’s achievements. Russell helped the Seahawks earn their first Super Bowl win and had a Canton-worthy career. To paraphrase Michael Bennett, Wilson’s former teammate in Seattle, if you’re going to keep Wilson — a 10-time Pro Bowler — out of the Hall of Fame because of lackluster play in his post-prime years, you’d have to do the same for NBA superstars such as Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony. It doesn’t make sense.

To be clear, Wilson is calling his foray into broadcasting a pause, not a retirement. The ultra-competitor doesn’t want to officially end his NFL career, but it seems highly unlikely he would play again given his age and on-field decline. So this seems like the end. And that’s OK.

It’s rare that the greats are universally liked. That’s the price of success. This great, however, deserves universal respect.

Divisive? Sometimes. But mostly just dazzling.